NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Some Tennesseans found another meaningful way to honor Dolly Parton this weekend — by watching some of the iconic stories she helped tell on the big screen.
Regal offered special screenings of two Dolly Parton films at some theaters across the state, including 1989 comedy drama "Steel Magnolias" and 1982 musical comedy "The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas."
Tickets were priced at $9.25 — a nod to Parton — and Regal leaders said 100% of the proceeds will go to support Dolly Parton's Imagination Library, which gifts books to children from birth to age 5.
For moviegoers like Melissa Ellis and her daughter Eva, the screening was both a tribute and a shared experience.
"She wanted to come see Steel Magnolias; she'd never seen it... so I said, ‘well, let's go do it," Melissa Ellis said.
The film, already known for pulling at heartstrings, may have carried extra weight this weekend.
"It's a sad movie to begin with, bittersweet. So you know, it’s saying goodbye to her in this," Lori DiCiaula said. "We're native Tennesseans and Nashvillians, and remembering, just, the legacy that she's left us.”
The Imagination Library, a cause deeply tied to Parton's legacy, has touched families across Tennessee for years.
"Knowing that the money is going to a good cause, going to her library, it's helpful and that's kind of how I think she'd want to be remembered,” Nick DiCiaula said.
Kathy Quinn still has many of the books her family received from the program.
"I signed up my kids, my grandkids, everybody got the books. All through their childhood, until they were 5," Quinn said.
For Melissa Ellis, the books arrived without her even signing up.
"We got books from birth; her sister is 23, they just showed up one day, and I didn't even know what it was," Ellis said.
For Quinn, the books carry even deeper meaning now.
"We pulled them out of the closet and we were looking at them and just crying," Quinn said.
For those who attended Sunday's screenings, the experience offered both comfort and purpose.
"She did so many wonderful things, how could I not come out today?" Quinn said.
According to Regal, next weekend it is expanding the special tribute screenings of Dolly Parton films to theaters nationwide to continue raising money for the Imagination Library.
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